Why Local Businesses Should Do SEO
Written by on June 9, 2010 @ 12:59 PM.
Most worldwide businesses know the value of SEO. Ranking high in the search engines means very inexpensive traffic and a lot of it.
However, most local business owners struggle with whether search engine optimization is important for them. After all, their reach is seldom beyond the region around their physical location. So, why would they concern themselves with ranking high in the search engines?
Here are three reasons local business owners need to consider their position in search results.
Declining Use of the Yellow Pages
The number of people who use the print edition of the yellow pages continues to decline. Even the Yellow Pages themselves admit to a 2% drop in usage. On the other hand, searches on the online version of the yellow pages was up 22% in 2009.
Even on standard search engines, more and more people are simply running searches and adding geographical terms to find the businesses they need. If they want to find a plumber in their hometown they'll search for "plumbers" and add the town name.
Does this mean that the yellow pages are on their way out?
No. But, it does mean that they'll be changing. At some point in the near future, developing a print version of the Yellow Pages simply won't be as cost effective as putting those resources into their online product. At that point, the print version will cease to exist.
Rise of Universal Search
If you've run a Google search in recent months, you may have noticed a change in the results. If you enter the term "dentists" or "realtors" into Google's search box and run a search, you'll see something interesting show up at about position four on the search results.
It's a little box that pulls data from Google local and inserts it into the main search results. We call it a ten-box, is a part of Google's new universal search, and it means two things for local businesses.
First, it means that if you rank high in local search, you can instantly hit position four on a google search. In essence, what universal search is doing is it's assuming that you really want a dentist or realtor in your geographic region rather than one from across the country. So, Google finds out your IP address and gives you local results near that IP address.
The second thing this means to local businesses is...
If you're not on Google local, Yahoo local, and Bing local, you're missing out an amazing opportunity.
Personalized Search
Many people who use Google as their primary search engine have an iGoogle account. Google presents this as your opportunity to customize Google just the way you like it. In truth, it's just another way for Google to collect data.
Google then uses that data to feed you the search results it "thinks" you really want to know about. When you run a search in your iGoogle account, Google first checks your browsing history in iGoogle and uses that to determine what results you're probably looking for.
Don't have an iGoogle account? Google still personalizes search results based on the location of your IP.
So, what does this mean for local businesses?
When people in your community run searches, if at all possible, Google will feed them results in their local area (whether they type in a town name or not). Businesses who are doing SEO will show up and those that aren't will miss an opportunity to get in front of possible customers.
Welcome to the New World
The drastic rise in the importance of SEO doesn't negate the value of other streams of advertising and marketing. Very few businesses can survive on search engine marketing alone. However, if you're not making some effort to get your business found in the search engines, you're missing out on some pretty inexpensive traffic.
